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Abstract:

A method for creating an electronic identification card during a
communications session including: presenting a user with an option to
enter personal information; receiving a command from the user to send the
electronic identification card including the personal information during
the communications session; recording the personal information for the
electronic identification card with a data entry method; and sending the
electronic identification card to a device involved in the communications
session.

Claims:

1. A method for creating an electronic identification card, comprising:
presenting a user with an option to enter personal information; recording
the personal information for the electronic identification card with a
data entry method; receiving a command from the user to send the
electronic identification card including the personal information during
a communications session; placing the communication session on hold; and
sending the electronic identification card to a wireless device involved
in the communications session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal information includes a
name of a person.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data entry method comprises:
prompting the user to provide the personal information; recording the
personal information provided by the user; and saving the personal
information provided by the user in the electronic identification card.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the personal information is recorded
using a dual tone multi-frequency input recognition algorithm.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the personal information is recorded
using a speech recognition algorithm.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting the user with an
option to selectively include personal information in the electronic
identification card.

7. An apparatus for creating and transferring an electronic
identification card, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable
medium with computer-executable instruction stored thereon, that when
executed by the processor cause the processor to initiate operations
comprising: presenting a user of a first wireless device with an option
to create the electronic identification card; receiving a command from
the user of the first device to create the electronic identification
card; creating the electronic identification card through the first
device; establishing a communications session between the first device
and a second device; placing the communication session on hold; and
transferring the electronic identification card to the second device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the electronic identification card
includes a name of a person.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first device comprises a
database of electronic identification cards for organizing contacts.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, the operations further comprising
presenting the user with an option to selectively include personal
information in the electronic identification card.

11. A computer program product, tangibly embodied on a computer readable
medium, for creating an electronic identification card, the computer
program product including instructions that, when executed by a
processor, cause the processor to initiate operations comprising:
presenting a user with an option to enter personal information; recording
the personal information for the electronic identification card with a
data entry method; receiving a command from the user to send the
electronic identification card including the personal information during
a communications session; presenting the user with a prompt to exclude a
portion of the personal information from the electronic identification
card; and sending the electronic identification card to a wireless device
involved in the communications session.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the personal
information includes a name of a person.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the data entry
method comprises: prompting the user to provide the personal information;
recording the personal information provided by the user; and saving the
personal information provided by the user in the electronic
identification card.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the personal
information is recorded using a dual tone multi-frequency input
recognition algorithm.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the personal
information is recorded using a speech recognition algorithm.

16. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising
presenting the user with an option to selectively include personal
information in the electronic identification card.

Description:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 13/616,096 filed Sep. 14, 2012, the contents of which are
incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/016,441 filed Jan.
28, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,286,866, the contents of which are
incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/272,868 filed Nov.
18, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,896,240, the contents of which are
incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/323,491 filed Dec.
30, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,451,922, the contents of which are
incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The present invention relates in general to the field of real time
communications, and in particular to the transfer and creation of
personal information during real time communications.

[0003] With the advent of pagers and mobile phones the wireless service
industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. Recently, duplex
wireless devices have grown in popularity. Duplex wireless devices allow
for the exchange of voice and other information over the same channel.
This is advantageous for multi-use wireless devices that perform other
non-telephony functions such as the administering of contact information,
calendar information, cataloging of images, video and audio. Users of
multi-use wireless devices take advantage of the duplex nature of their
products to talk and to exchange information. Current multi-use wireless
devices, however, do not come without their drawbacks.

[0004] One problem with current multi-use wireless devices is that voice
and data cannot be transmitted at the same time. That is, one function
must be suspended in order to perform the other function. Thus, if a
first party is currently involved in a telephone call and he desires to
send a file to the other party via the wireless device, the first party
must suspend his telephone call in order to send the file. In addition to
wireless devices, many other communication devices also suffer from
similar drawbacks.

[0005] In today's global business environment, with the wide proliferation
of wireless devices and the frequency with which business is conducted
over these wireless devices, a large number of business contacts are made
over the wireless devices. Consequently, a person is often not in the
physical presence of his new contact (customer or client) and thus, when
conducting business via a cellular phone, the person is unable to
immediately present a business card to the contact. Therefore, the person
has to resort to mailing the business card to the contact or providing
his contact information verbally over the wireless devices. This mode of
establishing new business contacts is not desirable, since it involves
extra steps to get the business card to the contact and/or forces the
contact to have to write the information down on a sheet of paper. With
present cellular phone design, caller ID information is provided to a
call recipient when a call is received on the recipient's cellular phone.
The identified number may then be stored on the recipient's phone.
However, this information is often limited to the caller's number, and
the caller's name is often not provided for the recipient to recognize
this number for later contact, the call recipient has to manually enter
the remaining data that may be relevant, such as the caller's name and
address, etc.

SUMMARY

[0006] Exemplary embodiments include a method for creating an electronic
identification card during a communications session including: presenting
a user with an option to enter personal information; receiving a command
from the user to send the electronic identification card including the
personal information during the communications session; recording the
personal information for the electronic identification card with a data
entry method; and sending the electronic identification card to a device
involved in the communications session.

[0007] Exemplary embodiments also include a system for creating and
transferring an electronic identification card during real time
communications including: means for establishing a real time
communications session between a first and second devices; means for
presenting a user of the first device with an option to create an
electronic identification card; means for receiving a command from the
user of the first device to create the electronic identification card;
means for creating the electronic identification card; and means for
transferring the electronic identification card to the second device.

[0008] Exemplary embodiments further include a computer program product
for creating an electronic identification card during a real time
communications session, the computer program product including: a storage
medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for
execution by the processing circuit for facilitating a method including:
presenting a user with an option to enter personal information; receiving
a command from the user to send the electronic identification card
including the personal information during the real time communications
session; recording the personal information for the electronic
identification card with a data entry method; and sending the electronic
identification card to a device involved in the real time communications
session.

[0009] Other systems, methods, and/or computer program products according
to exemplary embodiments will be or become apparent to one with skill in
the art upon review of the following drawings and detailed description.
It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, and/or computer
program products be included within this description, be within the scope
of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered
alike in the several Figures:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the operation of the method for
transferring an electronic identification card during real time
communications in exemplary embodiments;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the method for creating
an electronic identification card during real time communications in
exemplary embodiments;

[0013] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the data entry method for
creating an electronic identification card in exemplary embodiments;

[0015] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a system for creating and transferring
electronic identification cards during real time communications in
exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Referring now to the Figures for the purpose of illustrating the
invention and not for the purpose of limiting the same, it is to be
understood that standard components or features that are within the
purview of an artisan of ordinary skill and do not contribute to the
understanding of the various embodiments of the invention are omitted
from the Figures to enhance clarity.

[0017] According to an exemplary embodiment, personal information in the
form of an electronic identification card, also referred to herein as an
"electronic business card" or a "v-card" for illustrative purposes, is
created and transferred during real time communications. The electronic
business card may be in any format including, but not limited to, a .vcd
as used by Microsoft® Outlook®, a .txt file, a .csv data file, or
an images file such as a .jpeg or .bmp. The v-card may contain various
information about a person including, but not limited to, a name, a home
address, a work address, a work phone number, a home phone number, a work
email address, a personal email address, a fax number, a mobile number,
an instant message screen name, and a photo of the person.

[0018] Referring now to FIG. 1, a flowchart of the operation of the method
for creating and transferring an electronic business card during real
time communications in exemplary embodiments is generally depicted as 10.
The method for creating and transferring the electronic business card
during real time communications 10 includes establishing a connection
between first and second devices, as shown at step 12. A user of the
first device is presented with an option to create an electronic business
card for the user of the second device, as shown at step 14. At step 16,
the method for creating and transferring the electronic business card
during real time communications 10 includes receiving a command from a
user of the first device to create an electronic business card for the
user of the second device. After receiving the command from the first
user, the method for creating and transferring the electronic business
card during real time communications 10 creates an electronic business
card for the user of the second device, as shown at step 18. The
electronic business card may be created using a variety of data entry
methods described herein in further detail. At step 20, the method for
creating and transferring the electronic business card during real time
communications 10 concludes by transferring the electronic business card
of the user of the first device to the second device.

[0019] Referring now to FIG. 2, a flowchart of the operation of the method
for creating an electronic business card during real time communications
in exemplary embodiments is generally depicted as 100. The method for
creating an electronic business card during real time communications 100
includes presenting a user with an option to create the electronic
business card during the real time communications session, as shown at
step 112. Shown at step 114, the method for creating an electronic
business card during real time communications 100 includes receiving a
command from the user to create the electronic business card during the
real time communications session. The method for creating an electronic
business card during real time communications 100 also includes recording
the electronic business card information with a data entry method, as
shown at step 116. At step 118 the method for creating an electronic
business card during real time communications 100 concludes by sending
the electronic business card created at step 116 to a device involved in
the real time communications session.

[0020] Turning now to FIG. 3, a flowchart of the operation of the data
entry method for creating an electronic business card in exemplary
embodiments is generally depicted as 200. The data entry method 200
includes prompting the user to provide personal information, as shown at
step 212. In an exemplary embodiment, during the middle of a phone
conversation, a user of a soft phone or a SIP phone may indicate that he
or she is requesting an electronic business card by selecting a "request
electronic business card" button on a soft phone interface or SIP phone
interface, or by selecting a sequence of numbers on a POTS phone. Once
the electronic business card has been requested, the user whose
electronic business card was requested may be prompted to provide his/her
electronic business card to the requestor. As shown at step 214 the
information entry method 200 also includes recording the personal
information provided by the user. In exemplary embodiments, the prompt
can be by way of dialog box in a soft phone interface or by way of a SIP
phone's display. In other exemplary embodiments, the real time
communication session between the two users can be maintained example
(e.g., placed on hold) while an intelligent voice recognition system
prompts the user for the requested personal information. At step 216, the
data entry method 200 saves the personal information provided by the user
in the electronic business card. The personal information may be saved
using a DTMF recognition algorithm or a speech recognition algorithm,
depending upon the method that the user chooses to provide the personal
information. In exemplary embodiments, the user is iteratively prompted
to enter personal information including, but not limited to, name,
address, phone number, email address, fax number, mobile number, instant
message screen name, etc. Upon conclusion, the data entry method 200
returns the users to their conversation and the electronic business card
transfer is completed. The electronic business card can be transferred to
the requestor through various methods including, but not limited to, a
short message service, an email, a file transport protocol, or the like.
Upon receipt of the electronic business card, the requestor may be
presented with the contents of the electronic business card and be
prompted to save or discard the electronic business card.

[0021] In exemplary embodiments, various devices may be used for the real
time communications session including, but not limited to, a traditional
phone, a wireless phone, a PDA, a computer, a Blackberry, or any other
device capable of real time communications. The real time communications
may include a phone conversation, an instant messaging chat, a
videoconference, or the like. Additionally, the device may include a
database of electronic business cards that is used to organize contacts.
For example, a wireless phone may use a database of electronic business
cards to implement a phone book feature of the phone.

[0022] In exemplary embodiments, depending on the preference of the user
and the type of the device that the user is using for the communications
session, the personal information may be provided in various ways. For
example, if the user is using traditional phone the personal information
may be entered using the DTMF keypad or orally depending upon the
preference of the user. Additionally, if the user is using a device such
as a Blackberry or PDA, the personal information may be provided with a
full keyboard or a stylus. In other exemplary embodiments, the device can
be a computer, the communications session can be and Instant Messaging
(IM) session, and the personal information can be entered via a keyboard.

[0023] Referring now to FIGS. 4A-D, an IM user interface in accordance
with exemplary embodiments is illustrated. In exemplary embodiments, the
real time communications session can be an IM session between two users
and the IM user interface 401 can include an option to request an
electronic business card 403 from another user, as shown in FIG. 4A. Once
a user has requested an electronic business card from another user, the
requestee's computer may perform a search for the requested electronic
business card and upon locating the requested electronic business card
the computer may send the electronic business card to the requestor,
either automatically or upon approval from the requestee. The IM user
interface 405 may use a dialog box 407 to request approval for sending
the electronic business card, as shown in FIG. 4B. Additionally, if the
requestee's computer does not locate the requested electronic business
card the requestee can be prompted to enter electronic business card
information for example into fields 413. The IM user interface 409 may
use a dialog box 411 to allow the requestee to enter his/her personal
information, as shown in FIG. 4C. After entering in his/her personal
information, the user may choose to save the information entered into a
contact or V-card, for example by hitting a "save" option (not shown).
Alternatively, any of the information entered into each field can be
saved as a V-card or electronic contact upon the V-card being sent,
regardless of whether the user chooses to send that information by
selection prompts 417 (see below). Once saved, the V-card or electronic
contact may thereafter be detected and sent when a subsequent request for
the user's V-card is received. In exemplary embodiments, the dialog box
411 may automatically retrieve the user's personal information from a
cache, as mentioned below. In additional exemplary embodiments, as
mentioned below, the dialog box 411 may allow the user to selectively
include specific pieces of personal information to be included in the
electronic business card transferred to the requestor. Furthermore, the
IM user interface 419 can include a send electronic business card option
415 that allows a user to send their electronic business card to another
user of the IM service, as shown in FIG. 4D. In exemplary embodiments,
the IM application can have a default electronic business card that is
associated with the user.

[0024] In additional exemplary embodiments, a user may be presented with
an option to selectively include various fields in the electronic
business card that is going to be transferred. Electronic business cards
may contain a lot of personal information that a user may not wish to
provide to the person that he is transferring the electronic business
card to. For example, the person requesting the electronic business card
may be a business contact and the requestor may not wish to provide the
requestor with his home address or home phone number. Likewise, the user
may opt to not provide specific information during the creation of an
electronic business card during a real time communications session. If a
user from which an electronic business card has been requested already
has an electronic business card or contact information on their client
device (for example, in Outlook or IM), then an interface, such as the
dialog box 411 as depicted in FIG. 4C, may be presented to the user in
which fields are filled in based on the electronic business card or
contact information. The dialog box 411 may also include one or more
selection prompts 417 to selectively include what information to include
in the transmission of his or her electronic business card to the
requesting party. With reference to the exemplary user interface of FIG.
4D, a similar interface to that of FIG. 4C may be presented to a user if
he or she selects the "Send V-card" option 415.

[0025] In another exemplary embodiment in which a user does have V-card or
contact information associated with the user stored (either locally or on
a network), a user interface, for example the user interface of FIG. 4C,
may be presented in which one or more of the fields 413 has been
automatically populated using any V-card or contact information that
already exists for that user. This may allow the user to glance at the
information associated with his or her existing V-card, and to make
selections through selection prompts 417 as to what information he or she
wishes to include in the transmission of the V-card. As explained above,
the user interface of FIG. 4C may be presented either when a V-card has
been requested of the user or when a user chooses to send a V-card.

[0026] In exemplary embodiments, a user may be able to set preferences
that automatically handle requests for his/her electronic business card
and the receipt of both requested and un-requested electronic business
cards. For example, the user may select a default electronic business
card to be sent upon the receipt of a request for his/her electronic
business card and the user may also select whether or not to be presented
with a dialog box that allows the selective inclusion of specific
information in the electronic business card being sent in response to a
request. Additionally, the user may select a default storage location for
received electronic business cards and may set a preference of alerting
the user to the receipt of an electronic business card. In exemplary
embodiments, the user may elect to treat requested and not requested
electronic business cards differently. For example, the user may wish to
automatically save requested electronic business cards without being
alerted to the receipt of the electronic business card while opting to
alert the user to the receipt of non-requested electronic business cards
and prompting the user to either save or discard the electronic business
card.

[0027] Turning now to FIG. 5, a system for creating and transferring
electronic business cards during real time communications in exemplary
embodiments is depicted generally as 300. The system for creating and
transferring electronic business cards during real time communications
includes a first communications device 302, a second communications
device 304, a communications network 306, and an electronic business card
server 308. In exemplary embodiments, the first and second communication
devices 302 and 304 are involved in a real time communications session
over the communications network 306. As explained above, various
communication devices may be used for the real time communications
session including, but not limited to, a traditional phone, a wireless
phone, a PDA, a computer, a Blackberry, or any other device capable of
real time communications. The real time communications may include a
phone conversation, an instant messaging chat, a videoconference, or the
like. Additionally, the device may include a database of electronic
business cards that is used to organize contacts. For example, a wireless
phone may use a database of electronic business cards to implement a
phone book feature of the phone. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the
communication devices 302 and 304 are wireless devices. The
communications network 306 is in operable communication with the
electronic business card server 308, which upon the receipt of a request
from either the first and second wireless devices 302 and 304 creates an
electronic business card. In exemplary embodiments, the electronic
business card server 308 may use the method for creating an electronic
business card during real time communications 100 (FIG. 2) to create an
electronic business card. After creating an electronic business card, the
electronic business card server 308 can transfer the electronic business
card to either or both of the first and second wireless devices 302 and
304 over the communications network 306. In exemplary embodiments, the
communications network 306 may include, but is not limited to, a Plain
Old Telephone System (POTS), the Internet, an Intranet, a wireless
telephone network, or the like.

[0028] In exemplary embodiments, a first user may request that a second
user provide an electronic business card to the first user and the second
user is not capable of providing an electronic business card to the first
user for various reasons. The first user may request the electronic
business card information from the second user and create an electronic
business card for the second user based upon the second users responses.
For example, a person using a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)
connection may not be able to transfer an electronic business card to
someone that they are on the phone with; the other party may request that
the person provide each piece of electronic business card information
separately. The electronic business card requestor can use various
methods to capture and store the pieces of electronic business card
information including voice recognition software. In exemplary
embodiments, the requestor may utilize a program that automatically
prompts, receives, and stores the electronic business card information.
The electronic business card may be locally stored or can be sent to
another device for storage (e.g., the electronic business card can be
emailed to an email account and stored in a contacts database).

[0029] As described above, embodiments may be in the form of
computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those
processes. In exemplary embodiments, the invention is embodied in
computer program code executed by one or more network elements.
Embodiments include computer program code containing instructions
embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard
drives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the
computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the
computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. Embodiments
include computer program code, for example, whether stored in a storage
medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer, or transmitted over
some transmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling,
through fiber optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the
computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the
computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. When
implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the computer program
code segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic
circuits.

[0030] While the invention has been described with reference to exemplary
embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that
various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for
elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In
addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation
or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the
essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not
be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed for carrying out this
invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling
within the scope of the claims.